EUGENE–Acclaimed pianist Robert Levin and musicians from Bulgaria and Zimbabwe join percussionists, jazz performers and others in the eight concerts set during the second week of the Festival of the Millennium at the University of Oregon School of Music, 961 E. 18th Ave.

For more information, call the UO School of Music weekdays at (541) 346-5678. To confirm concert times and ticket information, call GuardLine from a Touch-Tone phone at 485-2000, ext. 2533, for a 24-hours-a-day taped message of the week’s events.

Violinist Katie McLin and pianist Andrew Campbell, both guest artists from Arizona, will give a Festival of the Millennium recital at 8 p.m. in Beall Concert Hall, 961 E. 18th Ave. Tickets, available at the door, are $7 general admission and $4 for students and senior citizens.

McLin and Campbell are a husband and wife team specializing in violin and piano concert repertoire that appeals to the many different tastes of today’s audiences. The duo, formed in 1990, has performed throughout the United States. Both McLin and Campbell recently received their doctorates in performance from the University of Michigan and are now based in Tempe, Ariz.

McLin, an assistant professor of violin at Arizona State University and faculty member at the Brevard Music Center, has soloed with various orchestras and is active in the chamber music field. She performs in the Southwest as violinist for the Katzin Chamber Players and the Papago Chamber Ensemble. As a past member of the Alorian String Quartet, McLin has recorded two compact discs under the Opus One label, and she has performed on Bob Sherman’s "Listening Room" program, broadcast live on New York’s WQXR.

McLin has served as concertmaster of the Michigan Sinfonietta, the Brevard Music Center Orchestra and the Aspen Sinfonia Orchestra. She also has been a member of the Michigan Opera Theater (Ann Arbor) and Flint Symphony orchestras.

Among Campbell’s recent performances, his concert with violist Jeanne Mallow in Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall received rave reviews in The Strad and Strings magazines. Campbell graduated with honors from the Oberlin College Conservatory, receiving degrees in both piano and history, and received his master’s degree from Indiana University. He was a national prize winner in the MTNA Wurlitzer Collegiate Artists Competition. Solo performance opportunities have taken him across the country as well as to Hong Kong, Taipei and Japan.

Percussionist Charles Dowd will perform and conduct a Festival of the Millennium concert titled "A Tribute to Frank Zappa" at 8 p.m. in Beall Hall. Tickets, available at the door, are $7 general admission and $4 for students and senior citizens.

The avant-garde classical percussion concert will feature more than 200 instruments and will spotlight the modern classical side of Frank Zappa as well as composers Edgard Varese and John Cage, two of Zappa’s influences in classical music.

The Zappa tribute will feature "The Black Page Part I and II" and "Waltz" by Frank Zappa; "Ionisation for Thirteen Percussionists" by Edgard Varese; "4:33" by John Cage; "Zappanexus: Frank Zappa’s Speech To Congress" for 13 percussionists and voice by Charles Dowd; "Magnesium Zapp" for percussion sextet, also by Dowd; and smaller solo works for vibraphone and drums. "Magnesium Zapp" is a new work derived from Zappa’s "Girl In The Magnesium Dress," a classical piece Zappa recorded on his renowned "Yellow Shark" album. The performance of "Magnesium Zapp" will be a world premiere.

Dowd will perform on a multi-percussion "John Cage-Cage" of his own design, and on vibraharp, marimba and drums. Thirteen percussionists from The Oregon Percussion Ensemble will join Dowd, along with Eugene Symphony members David Burham, electric violin; Forrest Moyer, electric bass; Brian Scott, marimba; Tim Cogswell, marimba; and Christine Mirabella on piano clusters. Associate Professor Richard Clark will speak the voice of Frank Zappa, and electric guitarist Kyle Sanna will play the part of Zappa.

The UO Chamber Music Series welcomes the acclaimed New York Philomusica, along with featured pianist Robert Levin, for a concert at 8 p.m. in Beall Hall. Reserved-seat tickets range from $8 to $22, available in advance from the Hult Center at 682-5000, or the UO Ticket Office in the EMU, 346-4363. Student tickets will be sold at the door for $5 and $9.

Levin, a compelling speaker and acclaimed performer at the 1999 Oregon Bach Festival, also will give a free public lecture at noon in Beall Hall. Part of the Student Forum series, his talk is titled "Who Cares If Classical Music Dies?"

Selections on the Thursday concert program include "String Quartet in B-flat" by Haydn, "Quintet No. 2 in B-flat" by Mendelssohn, and an arrangement of Beethoven’s "Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major" recently rediscovered and reconstructed by music scholar Hans-Werner Küthen. Levin will be the pianist in the concerto performance.

New York Philomusica was launched in 1971 by its artistic director, Robert Johnson. The artists, among New York’s most distinguished, have become widely acclaimed for their persuasive interpretation of programs that both challenge and entertain. Their repertory is mid-18th century to the present, and New York Philomusica Records, the ensemble’s label, has issued CDs of the music of Beethoven, Brahms and five living composers as well as German and French flute masterpieces.

Levin is one of the world’s leading music scholars and performers. A member of the faculty at Harvard University, where he was named the school’s first Dwight P. Robinson Professor of the Humanities, Levin is perhaps best known for his "new" completion of Mozart’s "Requiem" nearly 10 years ago–a project commissioned by Helmuth Rilling. Levin made his first appearance in Eugene this past summer at the Oregon Bach Festival, where he delighted audiences with his performances and his entertaining and insightful commentary at two Discovery Series concerts.

The Oregon Composers Forum will present new music by UO graduate composers in a Festival of the Millennium concert at 8 p.m. in Beall Hall. Admission is free.

The concert will feature a number of premieres, including "Inside/Alone," for tape by Daniel Heila and "Lalit" for piano, clarinet, violin and cello by Christopher Randall.

Other selections include: "Completely" for piano and cello by Paul Lombardi, "Aesop’s Fables" by Rebecca Oswald, "Oboe Sonata" by Jeffrey Radcliffe, "Shades of Three" for flute trio by Mendel Lee, and "Dialectics" for sound and computer animation by John Villec.

UO Jazz Combos present their first Jazz Café performance at 8 p.m. in the Alumni Lounge at Gerlinger Hall, 1468 University St. Tickets, available at the door, are $5 general admission and $3 for students and senior citizens. Light food and beverages will be available for purchase during the evening.

Co-sponsored by the EMU Cultural Forum, the program will feature jazz saxophonist John Gross as guest artist and include original material and arrangements by student composers.

The School of Music’s World Music Series presents Sredets, a Bulgarian folk ensemble, performing at 8 p.m. in Agate Hall, 1787 Agate St. Tickets, available at the door, are $10 general admission and $8 for students and senior citizens.

The beautiful slow melodies and exciting dance rhythms will be performed by some of Bulgaria’s finest musicians on their first tour of the western United States. The ensemble will perform a variety of older and contemporary village and urban music styles, including Rom (Gypsy) music, using traditional and modern instruments. Following the concert, there will be a free participatory folk dance for everyone.

Mbira Masters of Zimbabwe will present "The Soul of Mbira" as part of the World Music Series at 8 p.m. in Beall Concert Hall. Tickets, available at the door, are $10 general admission and $8 for students and senior citizens. A free lecture-demonstration will precede the concert at 7 p.m.

The ensemble also will give a Shona Music and Dance Workshop from 3—4:30 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 14, in Room 178 of the Music Building, 961 E. 18th Ave. Admission to the workshop is $10 general and $8 for students and senior citizens.

"The Soul of Mbira" tour features Hakurotwi Mude, Beauler Dyoko, Chaka Chawasarira, Cosmas Magaya, Simon Magaya and Paul Berliner. These legendary performers of the music of the Shona people of Zimbabwe will play various types of mbiras and their corresponding styles of song and dance, as well as drums, hosho (gourd rattles), musical bows and antelope trumpet.

The mbira is one of Africa’s unique contributions to the world of music. It consists of a number of metal keys arranged over a bridge on a hardwood soundboard. The free ends of the keys are plucked with thumbs and forefingers, producing complex polyphonic and polyrhythmic patterns over a harmonic framework.

In an ensemble, group members interlock various composed parts which are continually varied, accompanied by singing and a driving hosho (gourd rattle) beat or drumming. At the intense all-night bira ceremony, mbira ensembles call ancestral spirits to possess mediums, so that they can advise participants about their current problems.

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